Reckless Love is a Christian worship song released by Bethel Music, and popularly performed by one of its writers, Cory Asbury. It was released in 2017 and appears to have been overall well received by the Christian community, as a whole. For transparency, I think it is worth pointing out that it is also one of the few songs in the category of ‘Worship music’ that truly resonates with me. Overall, I don’t enjoy ‘Jesus Music,’ which is ironic, as I adore the album ‘Jesus Music’ by CAIN. Anyway, I digress.
Reckless Love is a song that felt truly edifying from the first time I heard it. The parable of the Lost Sheep is also one that resonates with me, so perhaps the lyrics simply align with my favoured Scripture, which is why I like it so much.
It quite literally, never occurred to me that it was objectionable to anyone. As time when on, I learned that it is not the overall message of the song which people find problematic, but specifically the idea, or accusation, that God is reckless in his love for us. This is something that always made sense to me. Is there anything more reckless than truly unconditional love for a person? However, I’ll do the work of breaking down the point and discovering if there is a Biblical defence for this, or if it really is problematic. Either way, I doubt it will affect my enjoyment of the actual song, but let’s find out.
Defining the term ‘Reckless’ and its usage.
The Cambridge Dictionary has this definition for Reckless:
“doing something dangerous and not worrying about the risks and the possible results” It offers synonyms of careless, sloppy, rash, and, slapdash, among others. (ref 2)
None of this is a good start when I am trying to defend the Song. But at least Cory Ashby is aware of the criticism.
“When I used the phrase, ‘the reckless love of God,’ when we say it, we’re not saying that God Himself is reckless, He’s not crazy. We are, however, saying that the way He loves, is in many regards, quite so.” - Cory Ashby (ref 1)
The line in the song which seems to create the controversy is the following:
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. (see ref 6 for Full song lyrics)
Even well-regarded internet theologian Mike Winger concluded that the usage was not accurate or in line with scripture. (ref 3) which, again, does not bode well. For context, I have a lot of respect for Mr Winger and enjoy almost all his videos. One of his strengths is in taking things directly to scripture, rather than allowing secular opinion to ‘muddy’ his views. So again, defending the usage of Reckless maybe difficult with this in mind.
Pastor John Piper, when interviewed by the ‘Desiring God’ website, went as far as saying it is a heretical usage of the word. Despite his disagreement with my perspective, as a theological hobbyist, I enjoyed his words in the interview a great deal. The website ‘Berean Test’ has had a little dive into scripture to resolve this and came out with less than convincing results (ref 5, if you want to read through it yourself.)
Scripture that we should consider.
Firstly, to be specific, all Scripture should be considered. A working understanding of the Bible is not only useful but essential for the thoughtful follower of Jesus. However, some strike me as being more topical than others when discussing this. The below is coloured by my own interpretation and I encourage you to reread quoted passages before reading my summary. Please nte that for all the scripture below, I read both NLT and NKJV, however I do favour NKJV.
Luke 15:4-7 (Parable of the Lost Sheep): In this parable, ninety-nine sheep are left while a Shepherd goes to look for one. The implication is that the group is left alone to fend for themselves. Something considered to be a reasonable and noble thing. Which, in my opinion, is relatively reckless, but the one is likely in more danger than the ninety-nine at any given time.
Luke 15:11-32 (Parable of the Prodigal Son): The story of a father accepting the return of his son, who by contemporary standards had disowned him, insulted him and taken money and resources out of the family in order to strike out alone. The father’s love is illustrated to be somewhat reckless, as it has the potential to damage his relationship with another son in order to rebuild one with the returning son. This is framed in scripture as being entirely positive.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25: This passage encapsulates the idea of the Cross being foolish in the eyes of the world. God sacrificing his only son to pay for the debts of people who have failed him time and time again. All being written by the Apostle Paul, who was planting churches and doing outreach to the Gentiles, the very people who he just agreed thought the Cross was foolish.
These are only three examples. I could also point to the poor woman who donated all she had, and Jesus complimented her on it. I could point to the very fact that Judas was a disciple of Jesus, something the Father obviously knew was going to end the way it did. Though, we have good evidence, I think that this was not kept from Jesus either, who welcomed him. Or perhaps to choosing to come to Earth as a poor preacher instead of a King, in its very self being an absurdly deep and impactful act of understanding and love.
My thought noodling.
While I have only been a Christian for a handful of years, in that time I have studied, read the Bible most days, and reflected on the teachings of Jesus. It is not lost on me that God knows all things. But what is also known to him is how his actions may appear to the people on Earth who do not have the benefit of omniscience.
To those of us on the ground level. Those of us who live inside time, no matter how much we trust God, and no matter if we have faith enough to move a mountain, surely there must come a moment where we all are awed by God’s love. But, I’m also sure that there are moments when we are baffled by it.
When the murderer finds Jesus in prison, we know that he is saved, just like everyone else who didn’t kill anyone. It is not fair that he has Jesus. But it is right. It is right because it is God’s will and God is right, just, and good, even if it is ludicrous to us. We may worry this man is ‘faking’ and will strike again, but God tells us that those who come to him through Christ are saved. God knows his heart.
In the Book of Exodus, when God, through Moses, took the nation of Israel out of Egypt. Did anyone there, no matter how much faith they had, not feel that it was at least a little reckless to get up and leave under the watching, and eventually perusing, eye of the entire Egyptian army?
To me, one of the reasons, one of the many reasons that I love God is simply because he (from the point of view of here and now on Earth) will make decisions which appear reckless in order to summon beauty, change, and faith from us.
Poetic language
One of the things which objections to this song do not satisfactorily explain is the idea of poetic language (including the Biblical art of rhetoric.) The Bible often uses poetic language to make a realistic and rational points. The Psalms are entirely this, and it is also found within Job, Ecclesiastics, and Isiah quite explicitly. Though I don’t think any book of the canon is without it at some point. Poetic writing is a tool of any good writer and is used as one of the many ways a person has to communicate accurately and expressively. Is it not reasonable for a contemporary songwriter to use a word that is not theologically accurate but emotive of a theological principle in order to express worship?
Much like an artist may not draw the mountain as well as a photograph, they could likely express the feelings they had about the mountain with a pencil or paints better than ten photographs could. Human creativity often defies absolutism.
God’s love may not be so reckless when you are a deity. But to me, I have seen many examples of God choosing to go after that one sheep while the others are waiting patiently. Even if it is not 100% theologically sound to accuse Him of being reckless, there is a feeling in my soul that tells me that he will chase me down, fight until I am found and leave the ninety-nine for me. Even though I could not earn it and definitely don’t deserve it. It’s overwhelming and never-ending, this reckless love of God.
Conclusion
I think everyone should strive to have a clean conscience before God. We will likely fail, but we should nevertheless strive for it. Romans 14 speaks to this point, especially from verse 2 onwards, where Paul discusses not condemning someone who does not agree with your opinion. With Romans 14, the topic is meat and what is or is not proper to eat. However, this is a lesson that we can equally well apply to word selection and song choices.
Language is a fluid thing, and meanings change. But less discussed is the lens through which we interpret these words. As an enthusiast of the written thought, I am perfectly happy to extract the meaning at the expense of the literal interpretation. But, if a song makes you feel uncomfortable, then do not sing it. If another worshipper finds it to be a good outlet for their worship, feelings, and joy, then let them sing and sing proudly.
To better form this very thought — Artists should be allowed to use their art as worship, and in the case of writers, emotional words may sometimes be used over accurate ones when it helps to better form the art. I think this is no different to the hyperbolic choosing language which is often found throughout scripture.
Though possibly the debate really centres around the idea of recklessness being a negative trait, whereas many people find it to be a virtue when God displays it. Knowing God will sacrifice because he loves us is one of the most comforting things in all the Bible, to me.
Sources
1. Reckless Love (song) - Wikipedia
3. Thinking Biblically about “Reckless Love”
4. Should We Sing of God’s ‘Reckless Love’?